Wednesday, March 31, 2010

About 1300 hours on Wed. I started feeling MUCH MUCH better. Two and a half days of feeling like crap is not a good two and a half days. I would rather spend 2.5 days well in Iraq than 2.5 days sick here.

I had a headache, a SORE neck and a stomach that felt like it was at a Walt Disnet theme park. Being sick is not something that I handle well at all.

Now that I am feeling better it is time to get back to moving. I am going to play basketball tomorrow for sure. I have to start keeping some athletic wear in my trunk for after school. So when I start going to run the nice cushy track at Clemson I don't have to go all the way home to get something to wear.

I am running in another 5K in a few short weeks. I want to start running more distances to get prepared for this next run so I can try to get down to the 37 minute bracket. Each 5K I run I want to take time off from the last race.

I cannot wait to get my mile time back down to the mid 7's. My fastest 2 mile time was a 14:36 back in March 2006.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

On Monday I had a stomach virus. My day was a mixture of restless sleep and vomitting. Luckily I did make it to the bathroom and avoided any vomit in the bed. I had a terrible headache all day.

The headache continued into Tuesday as well. I was very nauseous all day. It probably would have been okay, except I was on a field trip with 46 third graders. Our field trip wasn't just a short little jaunt to the local college, but a 3 and a half hour bus ride to Columbia, SC. We toured the State Museum and the State House. Pretty much felt like I was dying all day long.

The good news out of all this, I did manage to drop 5 pounds in the process. I would gladly take it back to feel back to normal though. I hate being sick.

The official times have been posted. I am going to post this years times and last years times for the kids mile runs.

Trevor: 2009 mile 15:39
2010 mile 11:10

Riley 2009: did not run. Playground injury

Ryann 2009 mile 14:28
2010 mile 14:15

5K time
Shep 38:54
Brandi 37:48

I am proud of my family. We have turned our lives around from an unhealthy lifestyle to a more healthy lifestyle. We are slowly getting to where we need to be. This is going to be a great spring. What are you going to do to promote a healthy lifestyle change around your house this spring?

At the very beginning of the 5K yesterday, our friend Jeff McCall cruised out onto the running route and tossed a banana peel in my path. It was to say the least funny. I told him that was what caused me to do poorly during the run.

Jeff is a good guy. His wife is my daughter's first grade teacher. She is great. Mr. Hanvey, if you stumble upon this blog, make sure you retain Mrs. McCall's services. Nothing against the rest of the first grade teachers, but I want my other daughter to have Mrs. McCall too.

Brandi and Jeff, I hope you guys are delighted now that the banana peel story has made the Fat Funny Guy's soon to be famous blog.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Today was the big day. My second ever 5K race. Walhalla Elementary does an annual Family Run to raise money for various family activities. You absolutely have to love a place that gets families together to do fun things. My family participated in today's events. My wife and I ran in the 5K and our three children ran in the Mile Fun Run.

Before the 5K they have the Mile Fun Run. Let me just say, this morning I had three little people bouncing all over the house complaining about the "stupid run". They were ADAMANT about not wanting to run anywhere. When we got to the school they saw all of their friends lining up to run and they completely forgot about not wanting to run. They lined up and ran.

This morning I told them who ever finished first would get $5, second would get $4, and third would get $3. I told them if anyone quit, they would not be getting any cash.

My little guy, Trevor 4, finished first. I could see him coming down the hill, and he was moving. He finished in 11 minutes. We don't have the official times yet. I got a little teary eyed seeing him running so hard. He was determined to finish and finish fast.

Riley my 7 year old daughter finished 2nd in 12 minutes. Ryann my 6 year old daughter finished in 13 minutes. When the official times are posted on the website I will look at last years times and break them down. If my memory serves me correctly, no one should ever rely on that, they all improved their times from last years run.

Now the 5K. I started out with a very nice steady pace. Down the hill was going well. I was passing people and I was looking good. You all know what is at the bottom of a hill right? Yep, I had to go up a hill. By the time I made it to the top of said hill my shins were not just on fire, but they were cramping up. I had to stop running and walk. I walked until my legs were calmed down enough for me to run again. I did this off and on for the whole 3.1 miles. I was very disappointed in my performance. It was not my best athletic showing in my life.

But to every sad story, there is a silver lining. The old Shep would have been fine with a DNF beside his name on the official times sheet. Not this time buddy. I was determined not to be the loser from the past. I was going to finish if it took me all day to walk and crawl back. I finished in 38 minutes and 40-59 seconds. Not sure yet. I did improve somewhat from my last 5K. If my legs would have been good to go what could I have done? My cardio was fine. I had no problem making the run as far as breathing was concerned, it was the leg pain that slowed me down.

My goals were:
1. Finish CHECK
2. Finish before my wife NO
3. Do not throw up CHECK
4. Run with pride CHECK

3 out of 4 goals completed isn't a bad day in my opinion.

April 17th we will be competing in another 5K. The kids will be running in another mile event. We are looking forward to it. Lots of races on our calendar.

May 1, May 7th. May 8th is graduation day, so no running that day. I believe a piece of cake will be eaten that day as well. I well deserved piece of cake. Cash is always a welcome graduation gift. LOL.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Tomorrow is the big race. Okay, maybe describing the Walhalla Elementary School Family Fun Run a big race maybe reaching. It is a big race for me. This will only be my second race ever. This will be a good way for me to run in a race in a low risk, low attention race. I would much rather not have a bunch of people standing on the sides of the race route watching me struggle to string 3.1 miles together.

The t-shirts that go along with this run are pretty nice. My wife got me a 2X shirt. It appears it will be a little bit on the big side of the spectrum. Yeah, that makes me smile.

Tomorrow I will let you all know how I did.

Goals for the run:
1. Finish
2. Finish before my wife
3. Do not throw up at the finish line
4. Run with pride

Thursday, March 25, 2010

It is another RAINY Thursday night. I am resting my legs, not because I want to, but because my wife had a school function and I kept the kids at home. I wanted to go play basketball, but I stayed home with my wonderful children instead. I know staying home was best, not only because I was able to rest my legs for the 5K on Saturday ( THIS coming Saturday!!!!!!) and I was able to hang out with my children. I am not able to spend as much time with them as I like. They are great kids. Sometimes they make me angry by behaving like a bunch of MTV children, but 95% of the time they are the funniest, sweetest, most giving children you would ever encounter.

I am nervous about this race on Saturday. Not the Saturday a month from now, but THIS Saturday, March 27, 2010. I have not been running as much as I want need to. If I had to do some sprints I would be doing just fine because of all the basketball I have been doing. I am looking forward to the run, but I am still anxious and nervous. Finishing and beating my wife are my two main goals. Not throwing up at the finish line is a huge secondary goal.

I am looking forward to the Mud Run as well. It is a 4 mile run through an obstracle course. It is going to be a blast. View more details here: http://www.t4tchallengerun.com/ The run is completed in groups of 4. I am pretty much guessing this is a run you do not wear your new shoes in.

School is winding down for me. I have 14 more school days (not that I am counting).

Loving life and trying to stay healthy so I can fulfill the ultimate goal of not dying before I turn 50.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I took today off from working out. I did not want to do though, but I thought it would be best. I have a 5K race on Sat. I am struggling with the pain in my right hip and right knee and calf. This is very frustrating. I am very frustrated with the way things are going with my body.

Not only am I frustrated about my hip and knee but I screwed up and had a piece of coffee cake tonight. Here I was yesterday ranting and raving about trying to stay away from sweets and I go and eat some tonight. Not happy I did not show self control, especially after I go off about how I need to stay away from them. I am seriously tired of the way things are going.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Everyone has something that can be classified as a weakness/temptation. If you take a minute to examine your life, what would be that thing in your life?

I am trying to be real and relevant this year. I can honestly say my weaknesses are breads and sweets. I have always loved these two dangerous food groups. Think back to the last time you went to that restaurant that brings out the basket's of bread. Did you stop at just one serving of bread? What about two servings? I know it is hard to say no to these delicious things. I would not stop at 3 or 4, I got to be this fat because I would consume 5 or 6 rolls.

Sweets can be such a stumbling block for me as well. Doughnuts, ice cream, cakes, pies, brownies, etc.... all begin to tremble when they see me. If I am going to make this weight loss dream a reality I will have to overcome the temptations of these sweets.

For the most part, I can say no to the foods that I should not be eating. Every now and then, I get into some funk and slip up and eat something that I regret before I swallow the last bite. I hate myself for it. I am my biggest enemy and stumbling block. I have to get my will power under control. I am absolutely sick of this roller coaster. Something has to change.

I am so tired of the pain. My right hip has been bothering me for about 2 weeks now. Today while I was working out at home I had some shooting pain through my right knee and right calf. I am not a doctor and I have no clue what is causing this pain. Regardless of the pain, I am not going to stop working toward my goal. It would be so easy to stop working out and wait the pain out. If I did that, what would happen? Could I continue on the journey if I took a break? This is not the first time I have ever been running. I have ran many many miles in my life as an adult. Never, never, have I had any kind of pain like this shoot through my legs. I am not sure why I am having this pain. I am going to the doctor April 26. My schedule is so tight right now and my DR will be out of town. I hope there is nothing wrong with my hip/leg.

Today I started out walking on the treadmill. I walked for 30 minutes. I moved on to running. I ran for about 15 minutes before the pain started shooting through my knee and calf. I tried to puch through the pain, but it was too much to handle. I had some kind of numb feeling going along with the pain.

My wife mentioned to me that she wanted to get a body bugg. She asked me if I wanted to get one. I asked her about the price, after the sticker shock, I decided I did not want one. Now that I am becoming more and more serious about this journey I really want to get one, but the sticker shock is still there. I will shop around and see if I can find something that will count my calories burned through the day. I think if I knew how many calories I burned through the day and how many calories I took in, my journey would be "less" difficult.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Went to the gym to play some basketball tonight. I was very disappointed to see there were only 4 of us playing tonight. At first I was wondering how much fun it was going to be playing 2 on 2. Not only was it fun, but it was a much more intense workout that playing 5 on 5. I would much much rather play 5 on 5, but I will play basketball at any time, even with 9 year olds.

I broke down and played ball tonight in my running shoes. WHY in the world did I wait this long to switch shoes??????? Actually, the reason I have played in my basketball shoes despite the pain stems back to Iraq. When I was in Iraq I played basketball ALL the time. The only times I ever got hurt in Iraq was playing basketball in my low top running shoes. I twisted an ankle at least 5 times and skinned every elbow and knee I owned. If I would have had 10 more of each I am sure I would have skinned those as well. This was back when I was around 205 lbs and could play basketball with the best of them.

I have 18 school days left until my Undergrad Academic Career is over. I can see a lot of physical exercise in my future.

I am so ready to get fit. It has been a long journey so far and an even longer journey ahead of me. Despite the pain I will be having in my legs on Saturday I am looking forward to the 5K.

In other news, some of the guys I play basketball with during the league want to get a league going, if you are interested let me know.

Spring Break is 8 school days away. I am looking forward to getting out of town. We have talked about going camping in Charleston, SC. We are going to have to get the camper opened up sometime this week and check things out and get ready to hit the "open road."

We are slowly becoming some semi-serious campers. We bought the camper last year in June, we went camping a lot last year. I hope to be able to go even more this summer. Running and biking around a campground would be great exercise. Swimming opportunities will be a plenty as well.

Looking forward to continuing my journey.

SHEP

Still not sure why my spell check button is missing. I am not great at revising my writing. I promise I will try to get better at this for your sake.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My basketball team lost our second game in the tournament eliminating us from the tournament. We were missing 4 players. Kind of hard to play basketball with only 6 players against a team with 11. I played as hard as I could, nothing out of the ordinary there. I was sweating like crazy today. I had a great workout.

At half-time I had to switch shoes. My basketball shoes are very stiff and do not allow my foot to flex very much causing a lot of pain and fatigue in my shins. Once I put my running shoes on ( you can find them on Amazon) I was able to play with a lot less pain.

I put up four points today. I averaged about 5 points per game this year. Hopefully with all this working out and running I am doing I will be a much improved player. At one point in my life, I was a pretty good ball player. I cannot wait to be back to that type of player again.

Even though my season is over, I am still going to be playing some pick-up games during the week. Hopefully I can find another place to play during the week so I can continue to get a good workout and improve my playing ability.

I do not know if I am going to play much this week because of the upcoming 5K on Saturday. If you are not doing anything come on down to Walhalla and come run with us. I just hope I can finish and beat my wife. If I can keep her in my sights,I can sprint past her. For a fat guy, I am pretty fast.

Be praying for me as my academic career comes to a close. I will be looking for a teaching position for the upcoming school year. The budget has me beyond worried.

Trying to keep moving in the right direction.

SHEP

Check out the shoes below. They are the most comfortable I have ever run in.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Today I did not do any working out. I cleaned up around the house and took care of a pukey child. I also caught up on some sleep.

We went to an auction tonight. It was the first auction I had ever been too. I was very disappointed to find that I had left my wallet at home. I missed out on some good deals.

Looking forward to a big basketball game tomorrow. It is win or go home time. If we pull off a win at 3PM we play again at 5PM. Keep winning and you get to keep playing. I really do not want to lose. I hate losing. Playing is fun, but winning is much nicer.

Firehouse freebies. Kids eat free on Sundays. Come out and eat with the Sheps on Sunday.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Today was another long day. No school for my students tomorrow. Getting some extra time to work on lesson plans.
Any way. Time to move on.

I played basketball tonight. I am wore out too. Looking forward to icing down my shin. I am also going to stretch for a while as well.

I worked up a nice sweat and shot the ball very well tonight.

On the way home from playing basketball my wife asked me to stop at the grocery store. I went into the store and picked up the stuff we needed. I went to through the bakery and looked at all of the baked sweets. Looked at all of the pastries, pies, cakes, and fudge. And I did not want a single bite of any of it. I could have justified it and said my workout would have cancelled the dessert out. I looked at it a completely different way. If I would have eaten the dessert, it would have cancelled out my workout. I worked too hard to have my workout cancelled out.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Today's workout was less than stellar. I spent about 20 minutes on the stationary bike, SQUEAKING the WHOLE time. I moved to some sort of machines. I am weary of how much I use these torture looking devices because I am not exactly sure how to use them all. I ONLY use the machines that I know that I can use and not cause injury to myself. No idea what exercises I did with those machines, but I know I am shaky in the arms and chest right now.

This week I have been much more slack than normal with my eating. I have had several desserts at school this week. I have to remember I eat when I get lonely or bored and I have to distance myself from tempting food when I am in a funk.

When I get a teaching position I want to splurge and get myself a personal trainer. I am really clueless about what I should be doing other than cardio. I have never been given a tutorial on how these machines work at the gym, or what types of exercises I should be doing or how to do the ones I should be doing. As you can see, I have added a few more ads to the blog, IF I begin to see any income from these ads I will be using it for a personal trainer. So far the $1.93 I have made is not going to get me very much training.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I wanted to workout badly today. I chose not to work out today so I could allow my legs some recovery time. My shins and hip were giving me A LOT of pain today. I probably could give myself a better chance at not hurting so much if I would stretch more. More???? Maybe if I would stretch at all then I would give myself a better chance at not being so sore. I really wish I had a gym close by with a pool and a hot tub. I think swimming would be an awesome way to get a workout without my shins and hip hurting for days afterward. A hot tub would be a great post workout place to wind down (as long as the big hairy dude has already gone home).

I found a link on the VA website about a weight management program for veterans. I filled out a questionaire and have an appointment on March 22nd. While I am there I am going to get my blood checked out to see if there are any extra vitamins I need to be taking. I filled the link out on Monday and had a letter in the mail today. Not sure if that is what the appointment is for or not though. I am looking forward to going though. I am also eligible to see the nutrionist there as well. I am going to make an appointment to see him as well to see if there are any other things I can be doing to help me reach my goal of 210 pounds in 2010.

I am getting ready to start running in some 5K's pretty soon. My wife showed me some shoe laces that are supposed to reduce friction on your feet while running. I decided to try them out. They are great. Once you put them in your shoes, you no longer have to worry about your shoes coming untied. Your shoes can slide on and off easily. Besides the convienience, they have made my shoes that much more comfortable. I found them on Amazon if anyone wants to check them out. iBungee Stretch Laces (30-Inch, White Laces with Off-White Race Lock). I bought the 34 inch ones and they are plenty long enough.

I am looking forward to moving on to another day. This day has been so long.

Still struggling toward my goal. But I am putting the effort forth and I am sticking to my plan. I need to make another adjustment to help get me a little closer.

I looked up my BMI (body mass index) for my starting weight and my current weight.

Weight BMI
262 35.53
244 33.09

Pretty exciting to see some resluts here. I am still in the obese category. 3 more points I will be into the overweight category. Being categorized as overweight is not great, but it is better than being obese.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Anyone know where I can get a new set of shins? I am really hurting right now. My left shin is killing me. I played basketball again tonight. Ran full court on a concrete court. Concrete was probably not really meant to be a basketball court. I bet it is a very economical choice, but hardwood not only looks better, but is much easier on the knees and legs. I really enjoy playing basketball. I push myself so the other guys on my team don't have to work as hard. I am not the best offensive ball handler or shooter, but I will D you up in a heartbeat, and I play very physically. I WILL not flop on the ground when taking a charge. I stand in the paint and let the opposing player run into and they hit the floor. I am busting my butt trying to get in great shape not just to be healthy, but so I can play basketball and be an integral part of the game.

This journey is not easy at all. I am struggling. I hate the way things are going right now. Sometimes I just want to quit and go back to the way life was. Lazy was so much easier. I am hating life right now. I am putting one foot in front of the other, but feel like I am getting kicked and pushed backward as I go.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Here we go folks. We are getting ready to start another week. This past week was a long week again. I am getting closer and closer to finishing out my career as an undergrad student. I cannot wait for this portion of my life to come to a close so I can move on to the next phase.

I played basketball again today. We put together a solid game and pulled out a win. My performance was much better this week than in weeks past. I pulled in several rebounds and put up several points. I have conflicting reports on the actual number right now. My wife says I scored 7 and I believe I scored 5. I do know that it is an odd number though. Maybe if I could make more of my free throws I could have had more points. I did have a blast playing today though. I really worked up a sweat today. I got a great workout today.

I am really not happy with the number of workouts I have had at the gym in the past couple of weeks. I have had a lot of work going on at school, but this is real life and I cannot let life get in the way of my becoming healthy. If I fall back into the rut of not working out and getting lazy again, then real life may not continue to happen.

I really want to continue to see results. In order for those results to happen, I am going to have to make myself get to the gym. I hope to make it running a few times this week as well. March 27th I have a 5K to run in. My goal for this 5K is to finish and beat my wife. If anyone wants to run in a 5K, Walhalla Elementary is having one on the 27th. You can come run with the famous Fat Funny guy.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Today or yesterday about 2 months ago I decided to put myself out there and make a change in my lifestyle. I am sure a lot of you folks DID NOT want to see Shep with no shirt on. Trust me, my wife doesn't even wanna see me with no shirt on, so I can understand what you must be going through. Hopefully one day I will have people following my blog just to see me, A. Put a shirt on, or B. I finally look ok with out a shirt on.

If you want to read about my workout today scroll to the bottom and read about it. Right now I want to share how much weight I have lost on this journey.

Beginning in January I weighed in at 262 pounds. On March 11, 2010 I am now down to 247. I know 15 pounds is not a lot of weight, but I will accept any weight loss at this point. To date I have still not had a real Coke. I am very glad Coke Zero has come along. Coke, if you want I am accepting applications for advertisers on my blog.

Now on to the workout. I played basketball tonight again. I got to the gym around 7 and did not leave until about 10. We had about 18 people show up to play, so there were some time that I did spend standing on the sideline waiting for my turn to play again. When I was in though, I was running full speed up and down the court.....

This journey did not start off easily. It is still not easy, but is has gotten easier to deal with. I am still making small adjustments all the time to reach my goal of 210 in 2010.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I am on the count down until I finish student teaching. Not that I don't enjoy it, but because I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO busy that it is hindering my working out and not being FAT anymore. I have been working on a project for two days now. I will have it finished tomorrow sometime. At this point it is already 29 pages long, AND it is not finished yet. I have about 12 more pages to add to the total. IF I really added everything that I thought about the subject, it could easily reach 75 pages.

My not eating the huge amounts of CRAP like I have been known to do in the past has been keeping me from gaining everything back. I am playing basketball a few times a week. The great part about basketball is the workout I get. The drawback is the amount of pain I have for a day or two afterwards. I am so ready for my body to be pain free. Not sure if that day will ever come.

Some of the things I am on the look out for: Yoplait fruit smoothies. I saw these on The Biggest Loser the other day (courtesy of DVR.) They looked pretty good. I am also looking for some Jennie O ground turkey. I am willing to try this out and see what it tastes like to see if I can eat it. I would love to be able to cut out the red meat in my diet.

I am going to try to get away from sandwiches for lunch and start having salads.

Monday, March 8, 2010

In a few hours another Monday will go down in the owned column. After a long day at school and an hour drive to order graduation stuff I came home and grabbed my basketball gear. I did not want to see the inside of that cluttered gym today. I went and played an hour or so of basketball. I would love to be able to play an hour of ball every day but I seriously doubt my shins could hold up. I was limping by the end of todays games after playing two days in a row. I am so frustrated with all of the dings and pains. I am looking forward to the day when I leave the gym and I am not hobbling or limping and can go play ball the next day. My feet took a pounding today as well. I will be wearing my running shoes tomorrow @ school for sure. I am hoping to get in some actual running in the next week or so. It may take several hours sitting with ice bags on my shins afterwards though. We shall see what we can come up with.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

It has been a while since I have posted. I am still making an effort at reaching my goal of 210 lbs in 2010.

I have tried to take it easy the past few days due to the pain in my lower legs. It has been very frustrating. I have been trying to move forward in reaching my goal, but feel every time I take a step in the right direction I take two steps in the other direction. I iced my shin down a good bit on Saturday evening. After icing the shin down for a while it felt much better. Come Monday or Tuesday it will be on fire again.

I am still aggravated about the way the game went today. I got a great work out in, but the outcome was less than stellar. The workout part is important, but I really hate losing. Maybe next week.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

In todays society (yes I know I am missing an apostrophe. My phone randomly has one on the touch screen keyboard or this symbol, @.) We have lots of abbreviations and acronyms. I decided I am the fat funny guy, a published author sorta, would make up my own acronym. LLP stands for lower leg pain. LLP basically hurts like crap. My workout today was rather painful. I have been doing a lot of jump rope before my cardio workouts in hopes of increasing my "hops" for basketball. I do not know what is causing the pain, other than the workouts, and it is driving me bonkers. I am at my wits end. Seems like I get motivated to get some work done and really start burning into a workout and some kind of stumbling block is thrown in my narrow path. I am already easily distracted enough as it is, I do not need more distractions. I have been doing much better at drinking water. My wife saw a woman eating a bagel the other morning and thought we should have some. She bought us some whole grain bagels. Not again will I try that.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Have I mentioned how I much I love to play basketball? I played Sunday, well until I got hit with a Technical Foul with 5 minutes to go and had to sit the bench. A friend of mine invited me to come out and play some pick up games with them tonight. Of course I could not say no. I played two 15 to 20 minute games. After I played basketball I went to the gym and did a quick workout.

While at the gym I put in 15 minutes on the bike, did some curls, and jumped rope. Jumping rope is not as easy as these little kindergarten girls in curls make it look. I would get about 25 reps in and then mess up some where. Hopefully putting in all this time jumping rope will help increase my cardio and increase my vertical "leap".

I am going to do my best tomorrow to make it out to the super cushioned track at Clemson University and run a couple miles to help get me more prepared for the 5K on Saturday. If your company would like to provide me with some awesome gear for running, (ahem, Nike) I would love to advertise for you.

Followers

Beginning of Swamp Rabbit Run

Mud Run

Trevor at Edisto Beach

About Me

I am a struggling fat guy. I struggle with trying to lose weight. All my life I can remember being overweight. I have tried before to lose the weight and have not been able to keep it off. Most of the time I will start trying to lose the weight and end up qutting a few days in. This time I am going to make it happen.
Philippians 4:13 Says I can do everything through him who gives me strength.